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I tried flying with this getup yesterday and it is very difficult to simply forget about the helmet and get into the "flow" of flying. In that regard, a tripod is much better - you forget that it is there after awhile and just fly. Flying with a helmet on just feels (and looks) very unnatural. Then again, VF is not all that often, so it may be bearable for a couple of hours per quarter!

I did buy a 2MP clip-able camera for $50 that I will be trying out soon (reasonable quality could be a concern with it).

-Tom

First off, Tom, I thought your results with this were really good. I totally understand the whole interruption of flow of flying, I think the camera just has to be on, whether itís on your head, or on the groundÖ itís going to mess with your flying. I was trying to get some VF footage yesterday, and Iíd turn the camera on, my flying would instantly suck. Turn the camera off, my flying would instantly get better. On, SuckÖ off, better. Like a light switch.

As far as those cheap cameras in the sunglasses and the likeÖ the one thing you have to watch out for is the frame rate. When youíre looking to capture something thatís moving pretty fast, you need to have 30 frames per second (is it 29.something ?) for the video to look good. My camera will shoot 60fps, but that setting reduces the resolution. Thatís why youíll find some helmet cams and eyeglass cams that are too-good-to-be-true cheap, and if you look hard enough, youíll find some that are considerably more expensive.

I think itís a great idea, something that I might be able to try, thereís nobody to call Dept. of Homeland Security on me where I fly these daysÖ

Surprisingly the eyeglass cam I was looking at does do 30 frames per second, they are a couple hundred dollars here in the States, under $30 shipping included from that action site direct from China or Hong Kong. Same with the clip on, under $20 from the orient shipping included, $150 here. The keychain camera's are closer, about $9 - $18 from the orient, $20 - $25 from auctioneers here in the States, there is a voice activated model too but the best I could understand the translation was any noise above 60 db started it recording.

HD at 720 x 1024 or something is starting to hit those little cams now, I'm sure it won't be long before the 8 mp with true 1080p gets in them now that that is what we are seeing in the cell phones.

Logged

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

Surprisingly the eyeglass cam I was looking at does do 30 frames per second, they are a couple hundred dollars here in the States, under $30 shipping included from that action site direct from China or Hong Kong. Same with the clip on, under $20 from the orient shipping included, $150 here. The keychain camera's are closer, about $9 - $18 from the orient, $20 - $25 from auctioneers here in the States, there is a voice activated model too but the best I could understand the translation was any noise above 60 db started it recording.

HD at 720 x 1024 or something is starting to hit those little cams now, I'm sure it won't be long before the 8 mp with true 1080p gets in them now that that is what we are seeing in the cell phones.

Wow, the ones that I've seen were lacking that 30fps. My wife actually got me a head camera for my BD last year, but I didn't even open the box when I found out it took less than 30fps. I exchanged it for a Sanyo HD flash camera, and have been pretty pleased with it. It's not as great as the cameras that run $1000-$2000, but I'd rather spend that $$$ on more kites !

i have one of the keychain cameras thayt look like a keyfob for your car. It will do 30fps and has a slot for an micro sd card. I originally got the idea for one of these off of the r/c helicopter forums. It takes ok video. I really wanted to mount it on a kite but never got around to it. I also have an oregon scientific "tube" camera that i have mounted on fairing of my kart when racing. It's light enough that i have though about putting a headband on it and trying to fly with that. didnt get to try that either

Technology marches on, im sure last year they only did 15-20 fps. This year they are moving into HD quality at 720i and 30 fps, next year the sensor and driver chip being used in our new phones may be available for other application. Looking at the sensor through the window of the droid it doesn't look any bigger then the current 2meg 480i units.

Logged

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

I used my standard old tape-based Panasonic miniDV camcorder. I literally strapped the thing to a bike helmet. You look like a IDIOT wearing the thing and it is for sure not comfortable. It does allow reasonable video I think, however. I just can't bring myself to put it on unless I am about the only one on the field.

So, I bought a mini HD camcorder that only weighed 50g (VEHO Muvi) that only does 480p, but is very tiny. So small that I easily clipped it to a headband strapped to my Tulley and could not even tell it was there while flying. The downside is that the video is pretty bad (20-30 FPS as near as I can tell, bad contrast, bad sharpness, just dreadful really) and I wouldn't want to use it. I searched on some other cameras as well, but based on the output I see from them on youtube, they are little to no better. There are some decent HD minis out there, but they are too large to easily just clip to your hat and have them go unnoticed. I guess perhaps something like the Flip HD might work, but it is really at least twice the size of what I would like (you can't clip it to your hat).

My current strategy is to build a head-strap for a standard smallish camcorder so I will not need the helmet. It will still draw some attention I would imagine, but I do honestly think that wearing a crash helmet to fly a kite is considerably more ridiculous than affixing a camcorder to the top of a hat. We'll see..........

For the time being, however, I am likely back to the tripod.

I can't wait until a device comes out that is the size of the Muvi, but which also has decent imagine stabilization, a good lens, 60 frames per second at at least 780p, a view finder, a 8+ GB of storage, etc. Oh yeah, and fairly cheap! One thing I will say is that Veho has the form factor down on the Muvi - it is perfect for clipping to your clothing and just forgetting about.

If you have the guts to wear it, however, go for the helmet cam - it for sure makes it much much easier to stay in frame, although you do need to learn to point your head more than you would naturally.

I've been thinking about making a video of my new kite when it comes and the 'helmet cam' approach has me intrigued. I found this 'headband cam' on Oz eBay for AU$30 & AU$7 local shipping that looks interesting.

I like the use of AAA batteries which last a lot longer and are cheaper than the little coin sized ones. Seems a lot simpler to mount and use than the keychain and other small cameras.

I recently came across a smoking deal on a Kodak Zi8 and couldn't help myself (I bought it for $75 and it came with extra batterys and a remote). It does 1080/720/480p at 30fps as well as 720p at 60fps - the battery lasts a good hour. Pretty small - maybe the size of a pack of cards. The video is quite decent - I was blown away by the quality that it shoots, although the image stabilization is a bit weak.

Preliminary results are quite good - the camera seems to do a great job and only weighs about 100g which is light enough to securely attach it to the brim of a baseball hat with only a small screw by utilizing camera's standard tri-pod connection.

It still looks silly, but perhaps much less-so than an actual helmet-mounted camera!

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